


Before The Bubble

by Somethin_Strange



Series: the end of all we know [2]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Relativity Falls, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Dipper Pines Needs A Hug, Episode: s02e18 Weirdmageddon Part I, Fear, Ford Pines Needs a Hug, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Preston Northwest (surprisingly) needs a hug, Relativity Falls, Weirdmaggedon, Young Ford Pines, not beta read at all lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:07:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25891078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Somethin_Strange/pseuds/Somethin_Strange
Summary: While Stan was in Bill's prison bubble, what were the other Pines family members doing?
Relationships: (IMPLIED), Bill Cipher & Dipper Pines, Bud Gleeful/Stan Pines (ONE SIDED), Fiddleford H. McGucket & Ford Pines, Fiddleford H. McGucket/Ford Pines, Ford Pines & "Manly" Dan Corduroy, Ford Pines & Bud Gleeful, Mabel Pines & Preston Northwest
Series: the end of all we know [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1875271
Comments: 5
Kudos: 45





	Before The Bubble

Mabel Pines paced the floor alone, running her hands through her hair. There was something horribly, horribly wrong happening, she could feel it. 

It had been two hours since Stanley had run out of the basement, clutching his shoulder. Mabel had desperately tried to get him to stay and explain what happened, but he didn’t listen.

He just grabbed a backpack and ran.

It had been one hour and forty-five minutes since Ford and Dipper had thundered up the stairs, looking panicked as they shouted about a ‘rift’. One hour and forty-five minutes since they had run outside as the sky turned bright red.

Those two had run off somewhere, but Mabel had no clue where they were. Had they gone off to find Stanley?

Were those three all ok?

God, she hoped so.

What the hell had gone wrong? Today was supposed to be a good day. An AMAZING day. 

Today was SUPPOSED to be the day she and Dipper were to sit down with the kids; They were going to be staying in Gravity Falls instead of going back to New Jersey.

Back to _Filbrick_.

Rage coursed through her body even at the THOUGHT of his name. That man had made it so that Stan flinched the second Dipper moved his hand.

Mabel took a deep breath, fiddling with the edge of her sweater. That man, the kids’s sorry excuse for a father, couldn’t hurt them anymore. 

But something had gone wrong. Because the last time Mabel saw Stan he was crying and hurt. Because the last time Mabel saw Ford and Dipper, they looked terrified.

Because she could hear horrible, horrible laughter outside.

It had been twenty-four hours since she last saw any of the other Pineses, and she was still alone. Worry had settled like a rock in her stomach.

What if they were hurt? What if they were scared?

What if they were de-

Mabel cut herself off from that line of thought. They couldn’t be dead, not yet. She would know, right?

The evil triangle- Cipher, Dip-Dop called it- was out there. She could hear it laughing and yelling all the time. 

It haunted her.

What had that thing done to her family? Why weren’t they back yet?

Fear creeped up her veins with every heartbeat. 

Every second her brain thought up more and more ways that the kids could be hurt. Had that triangle thing hurt them? Were they okay right now?

Were they alive?

And Dip-Dop, her twin, was he okay? He was a competent nerd, he could handle himself, right?

Please let that be right.

But Mabel had nothing else to do but be scared. So she paced and she paced and tried to knit her worries away.

There’s a knock at the door. Well, less of a knock and more of a furious, panicked pounding.

Mabel leapt out of her chair, running to the door and throwing it open.

And what she saw on the other side is...Nothing she expected.

It’s Pacifica’s kid, Preston Northwest a thousand-yard stare on his face. His suit was heavily ripped; He looked like he was freezing.

The poor kid shivered, obviously scared out of his mind.

“Oh jeez kiddo, you okay?” Mabel asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. Preston shook his head.

The older woman ushered the boy in, and a few gnomes scampered in at his heels.

Mabel didn’t even know this boy that well, but her heart still panged in sympathy. He was the same age as her Ford and Stan, he was only a kid. 

The boy said nothing.

Mabel sat him down on the couch as the boy still stared off into space.

“The triangle...Bill.” Preston said haltingly, voice shaking. “It turned everyone in the plaza to stone.”

Mabel’s heart gave a painful jolt of fear. “Even-”

Preston cut her off. “No. N-not Stanford, or his brother. I...don’t know where those two are.”

Mabel breathed out a small sigh of relief. At least she can cross one scenario off her list of worries.

Preston began to speak again. “It...it to-took my mom. She tried to bribe it to go away, a-a-and it… It did something. It snapped, and suddenly she was…”

The boy shivered hard, and Mabel put her arms around him.

Preston didn’t say anything else, put he hugged Mabel as if his life depended on it. The older woman could feel him clutching her sweater, she could feel the tears beginning to soak through.

Mabel pet his hair comfortingly as he sobbed his heart out.

“M-Ms. Pines, I’m s-so scared...” Preston whispered.

“We all are.”

“Your family. A-are they safe? Your Stanford. And Stanley.”

Mabel looked out the window, out into the utter chaos outside. “I don’t know.”

The silence that followed was suffocating.

…

The last thing Dipper Pines could remember was a beam of light shot from Bill Cipher’s eye.; After that, just a split second of darkness before he was unconscious.

Gold plating melted off of him, freeing his legs.

“Let me go, you insane, three sided-”

The scientist paused, looking around. He seemed to be in some sort of living room, decorated luxuriously in red.

“Wh...what is this place?” Dipper tried to walk forward, but his leg caught and he almost fell forward. There was a blue chain around his ankle.

He tried to yank it free, but it was clamped tight around him.

  
And that’s when the piano started.

**“WE’LL, MEET AGAIN!”** Sang an all-too familiar voice. **“DON’T KNOW WHERE, DON’T KNOW WHEN!”**

A piano, being played by Bill Cipher, rose up from the floor.

**“OH I KNOW WE’LL MEET AGAIN, SOME SUNNY DAY~!”** Bill finished, playing a few more notes before rising up.

“Wh-where am I...?” Dipper asked, getting in a defensive position.

**“YOU’RE IN THE PENTHOUSE SUITE, KID! THE TIP OF THE PYRAMID. HAVE A DRINK. MAKE YOURSELF COMFORTABLE.”**

The demon snapped his fingers and a martini appeared in Dipper’s hand. He sat down on a nearby couch, shifting uncomfortably.

Bill took a sip. **“YOU KNOW THAT COUCH IS MADE OF LIVING HUMAN SKIN?”**

Dipper looked down in shock, falling off of the couch with a scream.

“Quit the games, Ci-Cipher!” Dipper spluttered, stumbling back to his feet. “If I’m still alive, then you must want something from me.”

**“AH, SHARP AS EVER PINETREE.”** Bill waved his hand and his martini disappeared. **“AS YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED, I’VE RECENTLY HAD A** **_MULTI-DIMENSIONAL MAKEOVER.”_ **

He raised his hand and Dipper was lifted into the air along with pieces of furniture.

**“I CONTROL SPACE, MATTER, AND NOW THAT THAT DUMB BABY’S OUT OF THE WAY, TIME ITSELF! BUT I WASN’T ALWAYS THIS WAY.”**

Bill lowered his hand; Everything fell to the floor with a bang as the pain of the impact shot up Dipper’s side.

**“YOU THINK THOSE CHAINS ARE TIGHT? IMAGINE LIVING IN THE SECOND DIMENSION.”** Bill’s eye showed a picture of a two-dimensional planet. **“FLAT MINDS IN FLAT WORDS WITH FLAT DREAMS.”**

The planet in Bill’s eye began to burn.

**“I LIBERATED MY DIMENSION, DIPPER, AND I’M HERE TO LIBERATE YOURS TOO. THERE’S ONLY ONE HITCH. AS IT TURNS OUT, MY WEIRDNESS CAN’T ESCAPE THE MAGICAL CONFINES OF THIS TOWN. THERE’S SOMETHING KEEPING ME IN.”**

A sense of relief and triumph flooded Dipper’s system. Not only was Bill restrained to the area of Gravity Falls, but his hypothesis all those years ago was right!”

“Gravity Falls’s law of natural weirdness magnetism!” Dipper stroked his chin. “I studied that years ago!”

Bill levitated too close for comfort. **“AND DID YOU FIND A WAY TO UNDO IT?”**

Dipper spoke before the thought. “Of course,” he said with a handwave, “There’s a simple equation to collapse the barrier.”

The lightbulb finally went off in Dipper’s head, and fear coursed through his system.

“But I’d never tell it to you!”

**“LISTEN PINETREE. IF YOU JUST TELL ME THE EQUATION, FINALLY YOUR DIMENSION WILL BE FREE.”** Bill levitated farther upwards, growing in size. **“ANYTHING WILL BE POSSIBLE. I’LL REMAKE A FUN WORLD- A BETTER WORLD!** **_A PARTY THAT NEVER ENDS, WITH A HOST THAT NEVER DIES!_ ** **”**

Bill pointed an on-fire hand at Dipper, who stood shock still.

**“** **_NO MORE RESTRICTIONS!_ ** **NO MORE LAWS! YOU’LL BE ONE OF US.** **_ALL-POWERFUL_ ** **. GREATER THAN ANYTHING YOU’VE IMAGINED! AND ALL I NEED IS YOUR HELP.”**

“You’re inSANE if you think I’ll help you!” His voice cracked hard with pure fear. It coursed through his veins and kept a cold vice grip of his senses.

Bill laughed. **“I’M INSANE EITHER WAY, BRAINIAC. BUT HAVE IT YOUR WAY! I’LL JUST FISH AROUND AND GET THAT EQUATION DIRECTLY OUT OF YOUR MIND!”**

Dipper raised his hands to defend himself. “Not so fast! You know the rules Bill. You may be able to haunt my dreams, but you can’t enter my mind unless I shake your hand.”

Bill sighed and snapped his fingers. Instantly, more blue chains wrapped around Dipper’s throat and raised him into the air. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t breathe-

**“UGH. YOU’RE MAKING THIS SO MUCH HARDER THAN IT NEEDS TO BE. EVERYONE HAS A WEAKNESS, TOUGH GUY! I’LL MAKE YOU TALK.”**

In Bill’s eye flashed innumerable horrors; Horrors inflicted on Dipper and everyone he had ever cared about. Panic and fear, death and injury, fates worse than death-

**“IT’S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME.”**

Dipper screamed as loudly as he could, and the noise was suffocating.

…

Stanford Pines was thrown from his and Fiddleford’s hotwired car, slamming hard into the ground. Pain shot up his arm; Not bad enough to be broken but definitely leaving bruises.

Stanley’s bubble prison loomed above them, glowing red and locked with chains. It was only thirty feet, away, it was so close.

He tried to rise to his feet, but his arms were too weak. He crawled forward. “So...close. Lee, I’m almost there.”

Someone stepped in front of him, offering a hand of assistance.

A large, calloused hand of assistance in a flannel sleeve.

Ford’s head shot up to meet the person’s eyes. “Dan!”

Fiddleford crawled out from the car, clutching his head. “Dan? What’re you doin’ here?”

Dan grinned. “I’ve just been wandering around, trying to find you two. Fidds, you look awful, let me check you.”

Fiddleford dutifully walked over, standing still. Dan felt his arms and legs for a second before smiling again.

“The good news? You haven’t broken anything.”

Stanford breathed a sigh of relief before tensing again. He opened his mouth to ask a question-

But Fiddleford beat him to it. “Dan, what’s the bad news?”

“Bad news is we’re kind of surrounded.”

Bud Gleeful’s auto warriors pulled up in their trucks, forming a loose ring around the Stanley Rescue Party.

“Wooowee! I dare say y’all had the jump on me for a second.” Bud stood on top of one of the cars, holding the key to Stan’s prison in his chubby fist. “But this ain’t your Gravity Falls anymore!”

The boy blew into a conch, the sound echoing over the valley.

Bud laughed and threw the conch back. “Bill’s henchbats will be here any second to retrieve y’all! STAN’S MINE NOW!”

Ford stepped closer, anger burning in the back of his mind. “Is he though?”

“Well, yeah. I have him trapped. Ergo, he’s MINE.”

“Bud, listen to me. If I’ve learned anything this summer, it’s that you can’t force someone to love you. It takes time.” Ford glanced at Fiddleford, who was smiling. “The best you can do is to strive to be someone worth caring about.”

Bud tried to splutter out a response, but Ford cut him off.

“Stan doesn’t because you’re selfish. But you can change! Bill thinks there are no heroes in this world, but if we work together and fight back, we _can_ beat him. You wanna be Stan’s hero? Stand up to Bill and let us save him!”

Bud glanced over at the Fearamid, which loomed large in the distance.

“Th-that’s crazy! Y’know what Bill would do to me if that happens?”

One of Bud’s warriors spoke up. “What, are you AFRAID of Bill?”

Bud started tripping over his words. “Well, not exactly, I just...It’s a complicated situation.”

“Look inside, Bud,” Fiddleford spoke up. “If all this is fer Stanley, then ask yerself what Stanley would want you to be doin’.”

Bud looked down at the key in his hand. “...Will you all tell him what I did?”

The group nodded, and Dan shouted “Of course we will!”.

“I hope you’re right about this.”

Bud tossed Ford the key, and it landed in the boy’s hand. Bud went back to his warriors, ordering them on how to fight Bill effectively.

Ford didn’t stick around to listen.

The key in his hand, gold and shiny and in the shape of the fish on Stan’s backpack seemed so small. If it was a key to literally anything else, it would seem so insignificant.

But this? This was the key to getting his twin back to the land of the living.

He had the key to Stan’s rescue right here, right in his hand! After three days of non-stop worrying, he had it.

Fiddleford and Dan raced after him, and the group skidded to a stop in front of the giant padlock.

The bubble pulsed with red light and a quiet heartbeat. Ford swallowed hard, trying to push down his fear.

“Now remember guys,” he started, “This is a prison made by _Bill_. We’ve got to prepare ourselves for what we’ll find here.”

“Whatever it is, we’ll do it together!” Dan yelled. “For Stan!”

“Fer Stan!” Fidds repeated.

“For Lee.” Ford whispered.

He put the key into the lock, twisting it open. And together, the group entered the bubble.

And it felt like he could finally breathe again.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! If you did, I'd love to hear some feedback! Your comments fuel me. <3


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